1st Edition
The Poetics of Arabian Sūqs A Hermeneutic Reading of the Development of Arabian Sūqs from the Pre-Islamic Era to Present
This book investigates the history of Arabian sūqs from their pre-Islamic beginnings to the present. Collecting evidence from archaeological ruins, Islamic towns, modern cities, Arabic poetry, philosophical debates, political conflicts, puppet shows and the insights of modern-day market-goers, the book presents new and unforeseen interpretations of the Arabian sūq’s meaning and its transformation through time and place. The finding that such meaning is tied to ancient trade rituals, where temple and market presented a holistic socio-urban unit, re-questions some instrumental assumptions regarding the value of sūq-ness in Arabia’s everyday practices. Such a finding, which locates the fadaā/tareeq duality as a central theme in Arabia’s socio-urban discourse, emphasizes the importance of lived experiences and poetics as key sources for understanding socio-urban phenomena.
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction: A Personal Impression, A Problem, A Method
The Sūq: A Personal Impression
The Sūq: An Epistemological Problem?
Towards a Hermeneutic Understanding of Arabian Space
Concluding Notes: Limitations and Delimitations
Chapter 1: Arab-ness in between Prejudice and Prehension
What is Arabia and Who are the Arabs?
Pre-Islamic Arabia and its many Arabs
Islamic Arabia: An Expanding Social Geography
Post-Islamic Arabia: A Reinvented Identity
Concluding Notes: Decolonizing Arabian Studies
Chapter 2: The Arabian Sūq in Contemporary Discourse
What is a Sūq?
The Sūq as a Political Space
The Sūq as a Religious Space
The Sūq as a Social Space
Concluding Notes: The Sūq an Urban Franchise?
Chapter 3: Pre-Islamic Arabia in-between fadaā and tareeq
The Pre-Islamic Situation: A Historical Overview
Pre-Islamic Arabia: An Archaeological Overview
Arabia Felix: Saba (4th BC – 275AD)
Arabia Petraea: Petra (c. 4th BC – 2ndAD)
Arabia Petraea: Hatra, or al-Hadar (c. 2nd BC - 241 AD)
Arabia Desertae: Qaryat al-Fau (c. 1st – 4th AD)
Arabia Desertae: Medina (c. 6th – 7thAD)
Language: Arabic in-between the Desert and the Trade Route
The Desert in Pre-Islamic Poetry
The Trade Route in Pre-Islamic Poetry
Lived Experience: Sūq-ness as ‘being-in-the-world’
Pre-Islamic Sūq-ness, Myth and Rituals
Concluding Notes: Pre-Islamic Sūqs in-between fadaā and tareeq
Chapter 4: Islamic Arabia in-between tajalli and wahm
Historical Context: Arabia of the 7th century
Arabic Language and the Islamic Situation
Islamic Sūqs: An Urban Overview
The Umayyads’ Kairouan, Tunisia (670AD)
The Abbasids’ Baghdad, Iraq (762AD)
The Fatimids’ Qahira, Egypt (969AD)
Language: Poetics of the Islamic City
Lived Experience: Islamic Sūqs in-between tajalli and al-wahm
The Islamic Sūq as a Sufist Journey
The Islamic Sūq as a Political Playground
Concluding Notes: The Islamic City in-between Horizons
Chapter 5: Post-Islamic Arabia in-between Tradition and Progress
Historical Context: Pan-Arabism vs. Pan-Islamism
Post-Islamic Urban Developments: Case Studies
Baron Empain’s Heliopolis, Cairo
King Faisal II’s Plan of Greater Baghdad
Al Maktoum’s Dubai
The Poetics of Sūq-ness in Post-Islamic Arabia
Lived Experience: Post-Islamic Sūq-ness and its Variations
Dubai’s Social Perception: A Surveyand Visual Study
Sūq Rituals in-between the Festive and the Ordinary
Post-Islamic Sūq-ness in-between Tradition and Modernity
Concluding Notes: Post-Islamic Sūq-ness and the Predicament of Progress
Chapter 6: The Arabian Sūq’s Past, Present and Future
The Arabian Space and the Problem of Method
The Arabian Sūq and the fadaā/tareeq Duality
Poetics, Identity and Nostalgia in Arabian Sūqs
The Sūq as a Passageway
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Jasmine Shahin is a Dubai-based interior architect and university professor, teaching interior design and architectural history/theory in several institutions. In 2000, Shahin graduated from the American University in Dubai, after which she trained with one of the largest local firms in the Middle East. In 2007, she joined De Montfort University in Leicester, UK, where she received both her MPhil (2010) and PhD (2020) in Architectural and Urban Theory. Shahin has produced several publications and has presented many papers at international conferences. Her academic publications focus on the importance of hermeneutics for understanding the development of historical places in relation to contingent social experiences. She founded NU Design Bureau in 2020, complementing her academic experience with a strong pool of successful projects.
